hokutofandomcom-20200222-history
Souten no Ken
is a manga series by Tetsuo Hara with plot supervision by Buronson, serialized in the ''Weekly Comic Bunch from 2001 to 2010, and in Monthly Comic Zenon from 2017 forward.AnimeNfo information on Fist of the Blue Sky It is a prequel to the popular 1980s series Fist of the North Star, which Hara originally co-wrote with Buronson. Set primarily in Shanghai during the 1930s, the series centers around the 62nd successor of the Hokuto Shinken style, Kenshiro Kasumi, the namesake and predecessor of Fist of the North Star's own Kenshiro. It has been adapted into a 26-episode anime series that aired from 2006 to 2007. In the July 2017 issue of Monthly Comic Zenon, a spinoff of the manga was announced titled , which will begin serialization in their December 2017 issue. Plot overview The main protagonist of this story is Kasumi Kenshiro, better known as "Yan Wang" or "The King of Hell" (derived from the myth Yan Luo Wang). Kasumi is a laid back and chain-smoking Tokyo professor who possesses the deadly Chinese assassin martial art Hokuto Shin Ken who travels to Shanghai after hearing the news of his Triad friend Pan Guang-Lin and his sister Yu-Ling (Kasumi's love interest) are in trouble. In Shanghai, Kasumi has to fight the three Hokuto families, the Hokuto Sanka Ken (based on the royal families of Romance of the Three Kingdoms). At the same time Kasumi has to help Pan's "Qing Bang" Triad gang against the immoral "Hónghuá Huì" Triads in gaining territory and influence in Shanghai. Many of the plot points mentioned in the comic contain real historical facts, such as how Shanghai was controlled with International Settlements (the story focus mainly on the French settlement) during the 1930s. Also seen are Jewish refugees who escaped from Nazi persecution in Europe, and the invasion of China by the Japanese Army. Chiang Kai Shek and some historical Kuomingtang figures appear in the story as well. Tetsuo Hara wanted the fights in the manga to look more like traditional Chinese martial arts, so he went to Shanghai in person to get his inspiration. Media information Manga Fist of the Blue Sky began serialization in Weekly Comic Bunch in the magazine's first issue, published with the cover date of May 29, 2001 . There are 22 collected volumes (tankobon) of Souten no Ken published in Japan. An English version of Fist of the Blue Sky was serialized in the now-defunct Raijin Comics published by Gutsoon! Entertainment from 2003 and 2004. Only the first four collected volumes of this English edition were released before Gutsoon went out of business. While its art is less "dated" than its predecessor, its more hard-boiled and unapologetically masculine approach to the series was unfortunately believed to be as much of a turn-off to American fans as the original manga's frequent violence mixed with campy fashion. Ironically, Hara's compatriot Buronson has lucked out better domestically with that same gritty style when he worked on Sanctuary and Strain. least enough for those titles to finish their U.S. run, anyway. Also of irony is that Buronson's one-shots-''King of Wolves'' and Japan-seem to do better in the U.S. than either Fist, in spite of them containing more violence than those other manga. No other company has picked up the license yet. Japanese volumes English volumes Anime A weekly anime series based on Souten no Ken aired on Japan's TV Asahi on Thursdays at 2:40am from October 4, 2006 to March 14, 2007. The series has a total of 26 episodes, but only 22 episodes were actually aired on TV. The series was intended to be a full-fledge adaptation of the manga, but truncates the story at the end of Vol. 8. It is believed that the series' low ratings (an average of 1.2) led to the show's cancellation. The complete series has been released on DVD, including unaired episodes and uncensored content. In a bonus interview with executive producer Nobuhiko Horie included in Vol. 9 of the Souten no Ken DVD release reveals that North Stars Pictures has plans to produce a continuation of the Souten no Ken anime adaptation. Episodes No. Episode Title Airdate Theme songs ;Opening theme: by Rina Aiuchi ;Ending themes: # by doa #"Kissing til i die" by Jun Manaka Trivia *Kasumi Kenshirō's full name was originally used in the pilot version of the Hokuto no Ken manga. However, the protagonist of , is written with: 霞拳志郎, whereas the name of the protagonist of the pilot is written slightly differently: 霞拳四郎. *Various references to the original Hokuto no Ken are made through both character artwork and the plot of Souten no Ken. For instance, Liu Zongwu and Liu Feiyan resemble Raoh and Rei respectively, and also Ye Ziying and Erika resemble Bat and Lin, while Jukei's origin as a young victim of the Sino-Japanese War is shown in the plot. External links * * *Anime Souten no Ken Official Homepage (Japanese) *Comic Bunch - Coamix (Japanese) *Geneon Universal Pictures DVD (Japanese) References Category:Souten no Ken